Maciej Giertych

Maciej Marian Giertych was born on March 24, 1936, in Warsaw, Poland. He is married to, Antonina nee Jachnik, and they have four children and twelve grandchildren. He is currently a distinguished member of the Polish Sejm. He went to college and earned a B.A., M.A., Ph.D., and D.Sc. [1] He has written over two hundred papers and even a few books supporting Creation from his view as a geneticist. [2]

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Education

Dr. Giertych passed his final exams and graduated high school in 1954. He entered Oxford University and received a B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) and a M.A. (Master of Arts) in forestry. From 1958 to 1962, he studied at the University of Toronto where he received his Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) for studies on tree philosophy. In 1962 he returned to Poland and completed his qualifications for an assistant professorship at the Institute of Dendrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kórnik. In 1970, he received his habilitation degree in forest genetics at the Ponznań Agricultural Academy. [3] In 1981, he received the grade of associate professor; and in 1989, became a tenured professor in forestry.
Since 1976, he has lectured as a visiting professor at the Nicolaus Copernicus University of Toruń. He has also lectured on occasion at the Faculty of Forestry in Ponznań, Warsaw, and Kraków. [4]

Memberships

Since 1970, Prof. Giertych has served on the Forest Sciences Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He has also served three terms on the Forestry Council of the Ministry of Environment. He is a scientific council member of the Forest Gene Bank in Kostrzyca, the Institute of Dendrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Bialobok Arboretum in Syców, and the Forestry and Wood Products Committee of Ponznań. [5] He is an honorary member of the Daylight Origins Society. [6] He served on the editorial board of Silvae Genetica from 1973 to 2001, and the Annals of Forest Science from 1990 to 2001. As an active member of the Internal Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), Prof. Giertych has chaired a working party, served as a deputy and subject group leader, and represented Poland at the IUFRO International Council during the Congress in 1986, 1990, 1992, and 1995. He has attended all but one of the IUFRO Congress meetings since 1967; that is 41 years. Prof. Giertych has also attended the 1st and 3rd FAQ World Consultations on Forest Tree Breeding in 1963 and 1977. His attendance to so many various international meetings, has given him the opportunity to visit forests in: Australia, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Lithuania, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, the Ukraine, the UK, and the USA. He is also very well acquainted with the forests all over Poland. [7]

Political Involvement

Prof. Giertych takes his faith and beliefs in Creation onto the battlefields in politics. He served as a spokesman for the opposition to the Communist regime on the panel from 1986 to 1989; and as chairman of the Supreme Council in the reactivated National Party from pre-World War II, in 1990. He was a member of Sejm from 2001 to 2004, and has been a member of the European Parliament since 2004. Prof. Giertych also ran in the 2005 Polish Presidential election, but eventually withdrew. [8]

Beliefs and Opinions

Prof. Giertych is actively involved in the Creation community, traveling around to colleges and presenting facts against evolution. He was interviewed in a documentary with many other established scientists titled- Evolution: Fact or Belief. In the interview, Prof. Giertych clearly states that he believes that Evolution is not a science, but rather a philosophy. He says that “the available evidence does not support it (evolution), the science of genetics clearly shows that such change is not possible.” When asked about the evidences of evolution, he responded that “no where have positive mutations ever been observed. All mutations are either neutral or harmful, they are never an improvement.” Prof. Giertych addresses the fact of genes in evolution, and that for something to evolve, you have to have new genes full of new genetic information; but what we see in the formation of new races is instead only the mixing of genes during sexual reproduction. He says that even if a population is somehow accidentally isolated, and some features become concentrated in that population which gives it a distinct appearance, that is not evolution, but genetic drift. Prof. Giertych addresses that during genetic change, the genes are being segregated out of the population, rather than having new genes being formed. He believes that the formation of new genes, which evolutionists claim evolution is responsible for, cannot be formed without an input of intelligence (of the breeder for example), not from mere chance events. [9]

In a personal communication to this author Prof. Giertych states:

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“I oppose the theory of evolution as a scientist, a geneticist, and not on religious grounds. I have no problem with creation being achieved through evolution were it not for the fact that scientific evidence points against the theory of evolution. It points to a young earth (several thousands years old) and to the impossibility of getting improvements, new functions and new organs by a natural process. It shows that we observe devolution (loss of information, extinctions, increase of the genetic load – not of defective genes in populations) and no positive mutations.”

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Prof. Giertych is a Christian, and makes no point of hiding his beliefs. The banner on the homepage of his personal website reads: “Christianity-fundament of Europe.” He believes that it is a necessity to preserve heritage and the Christian traditional standards in Europe. He opposes the idea of euthanasia, abortion, and homosexual marriage, all of which are favored by the political majority of the European Union. [10] Prof. Giertych organized a discussion on evolution in the European Parliament; he described evolution as not supported by proof, and called for its elimination from textbooks. [11]